A masterpiece of Old Kingdom art, Ka’aper the scribe’s amazingly realisitic wooden Ka Statue from 4,500 years ago

Many high status wealthy individuals who lived in Pharaohnic Egypt were interred in fairly elaborate tombs. Another notable, long lasting funerary custom in Egypt was the making of life-like Ka statues of the deceased.

The ancient Egyptians believed that these acccurate life sized replicas of the dead could serve as containers for the soul, give them a spot in which to rest, a kind of spirit container in the underworld they called Duat [ pronounced “do-aht”]

The scribe, Ka’aper, was obviously an important official or administrator in the 4th or 5th Dynasty during the Old KIngdom period [ 2700 BCE – 2200 BCE.] Ka’aper died and was interred sometime around 2,500 BCE.

The most striking aspect of this Ka statue is the stunning realism, the naturalism. He has a belly, is a little jowly, and certainly wasn’t idealized. He also appears relaxed in a casual, yet dignified life like pose as though he had modeled for the Ka statue. He very well may have, since most imporant families and individuals with means to do so commissioned their own tombs long before they perished. The statue was found in the dead man’s mastaba tomb in the large Saqquara Necropolis in Giza. Saqqara is also well known as the site of the pharaoh Djoser’s, a step pyramid built around 2650 BCE.

Originally, the wood statue was plastered over and painted to make the deceased look even more as he did in life. In Egyptian religious cosmology they believed the souls would be restored and resemble the dead ones in their prime. The captivating eyes of the Ka’aper sculpture were made with crystal, calcite and some black stone.
This was “ancient” art at it’s finest.

This Ka statue is in the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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